Sports
Naomi Osaka’s Australian Open and the rediscovery of a tennis superpower
MELBOURNE, Australia — For Naomi Osaka, this journey to the other side of the world is starting to become a rollercoaster ride for the ages.
The new year had all started so right, with a run to the final in Auckland, New Zealand. But then, a set up and with her first tournament title since becoming a mother in sight, she had to pull out against Clara Tauson with an injury.
The scans were “not great” in her words, a suboptimal development just a few days before the start of the Australian Open.
A few days later, the fires in Los Angeles arrived. The flames came within a few blocks of her home. She called a friend and asked her to collect her daughter’s birth certificate.
Monday night in Melbourne, back at her favorite Grand Slam, brought a tight, hard-fought win over Caroline Garcia of France, who had knocked her out in the first round here last year. Osaka had been up, then down, then somehow up at the end.
Then came Wednesday afternoon against Karolina Muchova, a microcosm of the whole journey, and another sweet ending.
Just when Osaka’s second or perhaps third tennis act looked set to take another frustrating and all-too familiar turn, she stormed back to beat Muchova, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 in her biggest win since she became a mother in the summer of 2023. It means she will play her first third-round match at a Grand Slam since the 2022 Australian Open.
Muchova, the No. 20 seed in Melbourne, is an ascendant and gifted star who rose when Osaka was on the sidelines. She has the kind of all-court game that has become increasingly vital at the top of women’s tennis. Osaka, with her power baseline attack, hadn’t been able to solve it. At the U.S. Open in August, Muchova sliced and volleyed Osaka onto the next flight home from New York.
“She crushed me when I had my best outfit ever,” Osaka said on court. “She’s one of the best players out there.”
Osaka appears to have plenty going for her a year and a half on from giving birth to her daughter, Shai. A new and accomplished coach sitting courtside, in Patrick Moratoglou. A new dose of confidence from her first appearance in a final in nearly two years, and then Monday’s win over Garcia. The fist pumps and slaps of the left thigh between points have fresh vigour. She has shown flashes of her past self as a four-time Grand Slam champion in flickering moments, but now she has the luminous quality of a player honed for the present and for what is to come.
“With every match, she’s better,” Muchova said of Osaka.
“She’s played great matches here in Australia. I played even better at the start. I didn’t let her play the game. Then it switched.”
On day four of the first major of 2025, Osaka struggled to find answers for Muchova’s all-court attack from the start. She was down 5-0 after about 20 minutes, despite getting her chances to break Muchova’s serve in a couple of games. The set was gone after half an hour.
When the set ended, Osaka told herself to believe. In her best years, she had a distinct superpower. She played her best tennis at the most crucial moment. She always seemed to come up with a huge serve down the T, a torrid forehand within inches of the baseline or a backhand screeching down the sideline when she needed them most.
That has mostly been missing during the 13 months of this comeback. For stretches she has seemed like she can hang with the best players of this new, post-Serena Williams era. Then the big moment comes, and she can’t.
Osaka said after her first match that she has struggled with losing her focus during matches. She is not a confrontational person, she said, but her job is to fight other people, like a boxer but without the punching.
“It takes a lot of energy for me to know that I’m going to go fight against somebody,” she said.
“For me, that’s what my focus is. Obviously once it’s there, like, I say c’mon a lot and I’m yelling. It’s almost like I’m a different person. Up until it gets to that point, I overthink a little bit.
The fires have only made focusing more challenging.
“I’m not there, so I don’t know how bad it is or how bad it’s going to get,” she said.
For long enough on Wednesday afternoon, she was able to clear her mind and rediscover that essential superpower. She knew the score was ugly but she told herself she’d been just a few points away from making it close.
“I told myself, ‘Okay, you’re kind of on your way out, but you’re going to try to put your foot in the door,’” she said.
“I told myself to just swing, because that’s my game. I can’t be hesitant and allow her to push me around the court. I also tried to think that way with my serve, as well.”
Osaka got her teeth into the match early in the second set, lacing a series of deep, down-the-line backhands that sent Muchova sideways and backwards while finding the kind of groove on her first serve that sends every player’s spirits rising.
Naomi Osaka roared again and again on Wednesday in Melbourne. (Hannah Peters / Getty Images)
The power kept Muchova in the back of the court, unable to float forward and stick point-ending volleys as she does better than anyone in the game. Here was Osaka, the bully of old, sending her opponent scrambling every which way, stretching for serves, overmatched and unable to breathe.
Onto the third set they went. Now it was Muchova’s turn to try to lift her game to Osaka’s level, or maybe a click higher. She couldn’t.
Osaka got the decisive break points in the fifth game with a one-two punch from the title-winning years: a ripped cross-court forehand and then a backhand pass down the line. On the crucial point, she produced a deep backhand that Muchova could only block back wide.
Four games later, Osaka once more bullied her way to three match points. Muchova blasted away return winners to save two of them, but on the third Osaka dug the ball out with a looping lob that floated — perhaps with a little bit of fortune — onto the baseline. Muchova tried an over-her-head lob that went wide and Osaka bounced with joy.
The win gave her just what she was looking for. She has said she wants to play more this year than she did in 2024, but she also isn’t going to hang around if, as she put it earlier in her comeback, the results aren’t resulting. Belinda Bencic, another player returning to the WTA Tour after giving birth, is next.
“I have a lot of respect for all the players on tour, but the point of my life that I’m at right now, if I’m not above a certain ranking, I don’t see myself playing for a while,” she told reporters during the ASB Classic.
“I’d rather spend time with my daughter if I’m not where I think I should be and where I feel like I can be.”
Last year Osaka’s goal was to climb back into the top 20, or at the very least, the top 32, so she would be seeded at Grand Slams and not have to face the top players in the early rounds. She finished last year at No. 58, well below both goals, and she had to cut short her season after retiring from the China Open when locked at 1-1 against Coco Gauff.
She started this season strong, and could have looked at her time in the Australian summer as progress even if she had lost to Muchova again. Osaka was better than Garcia, who was playing her first match after a three-month mental health break. She wasn’t better than her here a year ago.
Muchova is as talented as anyone, able to beat any top player on any given day. There would have been no shame in losing to her after a run of horrible draws at Grand Slams, including a rising Emma Navarro at Wimbledon and Iga Swiatek at the French Open.
But there is the old Bill Parcells line that basically every athlete who grows up in America is well familiar with. According to the former New York Giants coach, “you are what your record says you are.”
She’s been nearly unbeatable since the start of the season. That’s what her record says she is.
(Top photo: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake / Associated Press)
Sports
Bryce Harper hits for cycle, Kyle Schwarber blasts three homers in Phillies blowout win over Mets
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The Phillies’ turnaround following the dismissal of manager Rob Thomson reached a new milestone when two of the franchise’s biggest stars delivered a historic performance.
Kyle Schwarber launched three home runs, including two in the third inning, while Bryce Harper completed the cycle to add yet another achievement to his accomplished career.
The offensive explosion powered Philadelphia to a 15-3 rout of the New York Mets on Saturday, as the Phillies continued their surge and received a signature performance from two of the game’s most recognizable stars.
Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber celebrates his home run with Bryce Harper during the third inning against the New York Mets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 20, 2026. (Chris Szagola/AP)
Schwarber’s first home run traveled 456 feet, while his second blast of the third inning measured 457 feet off Mets reliever Cionel Pérez.
He capped his night with a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Schwarber’s major league-leading home run total climbed to 28, and the performance marked the fifth three-homer game of his career.
Cristopher Sanchez allowed one earned run in six innings to lower his ERA to 1.80.
It’s his 23rd straight start at Citizens Bank Park in which he allowed two earned runs or fewer, the second-most such starts by a pitcher at the same ballpark in MLB history since 1913, trailing only Jacob deGrom’s 24 at Citi Field for the Mets from Sept. 9, 2019 to Aug. 31, 2022.
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Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies leave the field after defeating the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 20, 2026. (Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Schwarber is the 67th player in major league history and second this season with multiple home runs in an inning, joining Houston’s Yordan Alvarez on June 12.
Schwarber is the fourth Phillies player to hit two home runs in an inning, along with Trea Turner (Aug. 19, 2023), Von Hayes (June 11, 1985) and Andy Seminick (June 2, 1949).
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber hits a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 20, 2026. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Harper hit a solo home run in the first inning, his 16th of the year. He doubled and singled in the third, then hit a two-run triple to the gap in left-center field in the fifth for his first career cycle and the 11th in Phillies history.
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The Phillies and Mets will wrap up their three-game series Sunday night, with first pitch set for 7:20 p.m. ET.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is well into the second run of group play, with every team still eager to post wins and most looking to secure a place in the knockout stage.
Here’s everything you need to know about matches being played Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in the 48-team tournament across the U.S., Mexico and Canada (all times Pacific). Tuesday’s matches will conclude the first two games of group play for every team at the World Cup.
Sunday’s Group G matchups:
Belgium vs. Iran
Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku, right, is challenged by Egypt’s Ramy Rabia during a World Cup Group G match on June 15.
(Alex Grimm / Getty Images)
Where: SoFi Stadium
Time: noon
TV: FS1, Telemundo
The buzz: Iran twice rallied from deficits to draw with New Zealand in its first game, while Belgium, outplayed by Egypt in its opener, was lucky to escape with a point on an own goal early in the second half. Belgium’s aging golden generation of Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Thomas Meunier and Axel Witsel is going to need to do much better if they hope to avoid another early World Cup exit.
New Zealand vs. Egypt
New Zealand’s Callan Elliot, left, and Iran’s Mehdi Ghayedi battle for the ball during a World Cup Group G match on June 15.
(Andre Penner / Associated Press)
Where: BC Place, Vancouver
Time: 6 p.m.
TV: FS1, Telemundo
The buzz: One of these teams could make history since neither has ever won a World Cup game. New Zealand earned its first point in the World Cup since 2010 with a draw against Iran. The winner likely advances to the next round.
Sunday’s Group H matchups:
Spain vs. Saudi Arabia
Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal, top, challenges for the ball during a draw with Cape Verde on June 15.
(Mattia Ozbot / Getty Images)
Where: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Time: 9 a.m.
TV: Fox, Telemundo
The buzz: Both teams opened the World Cup with surprising results. Second-ranked Spain was unable to score in a draw with No. 67 Cape Verde. Saudi Arabia was 10 minutes away from upsetting Uruguay, only to settle for a tie. Spain desperately needs a win to get its World Cup back on track, while another good performance from Saudi Arabia — unbeaten in its last three games — would have the Arabian Falcons in position to reach the knockout stage.
Uruguay vs. Cape Verde
Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha holds the nation’s flag after a draw with Spain on June 15.
(Buda Mendes / Getty Images)
Where: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Fla.
Time: 3 p.m.
TV: FS1, Telemundo
The buzz: With all four teams playing to draws in their openers, the group is wide open. That creates a rare opportunity for tournament debutant Cape Verde, the second-smallest country to qualify for a World Cup. Vozinha, Cape Verde’s goalkeeper, made seven saves to shut out Spain. If he can frustrate Uruguay the same way, Cape Verde could be through to the round of 32.
Monday’s Group J matchups:
Argentina vs. Austria
Argentina’s Lionel Messi reacts after scoring his third goal against Algeria at the World Cup on June 16.
(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Time: 10 a.m.
TV: Fox, Telemundo
The buzz: Argentina opened its World Cup title defense with a 3-0 win over Algeria on a hat trick from Lionel Messi. The Argentina captain, playing in his record sixth World Cup, is tied with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the most career World Cup goals (16). Austria, meanwhile, would all but assure itself of a spot in the knockout round with a point.
Jordan vs. Algeria
Algeria’s Zineddine Belaïd kicks the ball during a World Cup loss to Argentina on June 16.
(Michael Steele / Getty Images)
Where: Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif.
Time: 8 p.m.
TV: FS1, Telemundo
The buzz: Little was expected of Jordan, making its first appearance in the World Cup. And it delivered little in a 3-1 loss to Austria. But Algeria, ranked 28th in the world, entered the tournament with high hopes and one of African soccer’s most potent attacks. However, it had only one shot on goal in its loss to Argentina and needs a big rebound to avoid an early trip home.
Monday’s Group I matches:
France vs. Iraq
France’s Kylian Mbappé celebrates after scoring against Senegal on June 16.
(Adam Hunger / Ap Photo/adam Hunger)
Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
Time: 2 p.m.
TV: Fox, Telemundo
The buzz: Kylian Mbappé proved his fitness with a brace in France’s opening win over Senegal, giving him 14 World Cup goals, tied for fourth on the all-time list. He has a great chance to pad that total against an Iraq team that gave up four goals to Norway. Iraq still is looking for its first-ever World Cup point.
Norway vs. Senegal
Norway’s Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring against Iraq on June 16.
(Justin Setterfield / Getty Images)
Where: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
Time: 5 p.m.
TV: Fox, Telemundo
The buzz: Norway, playing in its first World Cup this century, made up for lost time with a 4-1 win in its opener, getting two goals from Erling Haaland. Norway probably will move on to the next round no matter what happens, but a point would lock down a spot. Senegal and Sadio Mané, on the other hand, desperately need a win.
Tuesday’s Group K matchups:
Portugal vs. Uzbekistan
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo walks on the field during a match against the Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 17.
(Molly Darlington / Getty Images)
Where: NRG Stadium, Houston
Time: 10 a.m.
TV: Fox, Telemundo
The buzz: Cristiano Ronaldo entered this World Cup with visions of winning his first title. But he’ll go home early and empty-handed unless fifth-ranked Portugal improves on the listless performance it had in a draw with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uzbekistan, playing in its first World Cup, was not intimidated by the big stage, weathering a withering Colombia attack in a 3-1 loss. Expect it to bunker in again against Portugal.
Colombia vs. DR Congo
Yoane Wissa, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring for the Democratic Republic of the Congo against Portugal on June 17.
(Karen Warren / Associated Press)
Where: Estadio Akron, Zapopan, Mexico
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: FS1, Telemundo
The buzz: The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s only other World Cup appearance came in 1974, when the country was known as Zaire; it lost all three games and didn’t score a goal. It’s already done better with Yoane Wissa’s score in first-half stoppage time giving the team a point against Portugal. A win here and it’s through to the knockout phase. The same is true of Colombia, which got a 65th-minute goal from Luis Díaz and another from substitute Jáminton Campaz deep in stoppage time to beat stubborn Uzbekistan.
Tuesday’s Group L matchups:
England vs. Ghana
England’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring against Croatia on June 17.
(Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press)
Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.
Time: 1 p.m.
TV: Fox, Telemundo
The buzz: England opened its World Cup with a surprisingly comfortable win over Croatia behind two goals from captain Harry Kane. But the Three Lions are only equal atop the table with Ghana, which got a goal deep in stoppage time from Caleb Yirenkyi to beat Panama. If there’s a winner here, it probably will decide the group. A point likely sends both teams through.
Panama vs. Croatia
Where: BMO Stadium, Toronto
Time: 4 p.m.
TV: Fox, Telemundo
Panama’s Ismael Díaz attempts a shot against Ghana on June 17.
(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
The buzz: Croatia has played in two straight World Cup semifinals, but that streak is in jeopardy after a 4-2 loss to England. Panama outshot, outpassed and outpossessed Ghana in its first game but came away with nothing after conceding a goal in stoppage time, leaving the Central Americans still looking for their first World Cup win.
Sports
Jazz Chisholm explains why he still won’t wear a cup after fouling a pitch into his own groin
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Men around the country are still wincing from the sight of New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. fouling a pitch straight into his own groin.
It was bad enough that Chisholm had to leave the game, and it left many wondering why he wasn’t wearing a cup to protect himself.
Well, now we have an answer.
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New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. took a brutal shot to the groin on Thursday night. (Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images)
Yankees beat writer Gary Philips shared some quotes from Chisholm explaining why he wasn’t a cup guy before taking a foul ball to the cojones, and why he isn’t going to be a cup guy moving forward.
WEEKS AFTER BULLFIGHTER SUFFERED PERFORATED RECTUM, ANOTHER WAS GORED IN GROIN AND REQUIRED EMERGENCY SURGERY
Chisholm said that the pain level was a “million,” and that, “If you ever got hit in the testicles, you would know.”
Most males reading this just nodded at that statement.
But Chisholm revealed that despite cups being mandatory in the minor leagues, he still skipped them and will continue to because he trusts his own defensive abilities.
“I’ve never worn a cup,” he said. “I’ve never been hit in the balls. That was just unlucky.”
Now, there are times when I wonder why men don’t wear cups all the time just for some peace of mind (I feel that way about helmets too). You wouldn’t regret not wearing a cup until the moment you’re at a cookout and a rogue volleyball puts you in shambles.
But I also like that Chisholm trusts himself to react and protect the boys. I’ve always said that a fairly significant part of a man’s life is devoted to protecting his lower anatomy.
You’re ever vigilant, trying to steer clear of anything that could leave you doubled over on the ground, and spouting off every expletive you know and several others you didn’t realize you knew.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. says he’ll rely on his defensive abilities instead of wearing a cup moving forward. (David Richard-Imagn Images)
Waist-high branches, table corners, projectiles, bicycle seats, even a pet jumping in your lap when you’re not ready.
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Chisholm is self-aware enough to know where his self-preservation reflexes stand, and I respect that.
But if he takes another foul ball to the lower area of his body, he might want to start rethinking that stance on cups.
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